Pages

Sunday, 25 November 2012

Nula from Noolibird.com has recently sent me a lovely stamp with the sun as a thank-you for the photos and a testimonial I wrote for her blog/website. I loved the stamp and immediately sat down to card making to make some fresh cards using different techniques and colour combos. What a perfect timing with this stamp! We are short of sun and natural sunlight right now, in December, longing for some dryness and warmth. So it was good fun to make some cards with sunny warm hues.

I stamped the image a few times with the black ink on yellow card or on a watercolour pad and then coloured it with my watecolour pencils or gold Twinkling H2os. The more sparkle the better. Cutting out the paper from in between the sun rays can be a hell of a job and a good test for decoupage skills though :)

I tried different backgrounds too, even the grassy green :) - it makes a good contrast with the orangey sun rays. The stamp is quite sizeable so it can be used as a card topper on its own, decorative and ornamental as it is. I wanted it to be in the focus of attention.

Now, the cards individually...

Day and Night duo ;)

Folksy stripes and a doily texture...

Metallic crepe paper in juicy green colour... The sun has been watercoloured with pencils.

With an orange background. Twinkling H2os in action.

And the last card I made in this set - a card with an acetate front onto which the image had been stamped first, then covered with glue and glitter :) - a new technique I wanted to try out for this image and acetate cards. Quite pleased with the results although it's virtually impossible to keep the acetate free from micro-bits of the very fine glitter.

and all together :)

Actually I fancy making more "Splendid Suns" so there may be more cards with this design coming soon!

Saturday, 24 November 2012

Got a couple of things to share so...
...perhaps you should know that...

Calling all Scandi-lovers!

Audrey Eclectic has come up with a great idea of celebrating St. Lucia Day on her blog by hosting a blog hopping party where all the participants will be blogging about their Scandinavian crafts, makes, food, interests, likings etc. on 13th December - St Lucia Day. Everything revolves around the Scandi theme so all things Swedish and all things Scandinavian are welcome.

If you are also obsessing about the Scandi culture, let Heather know by commenting here - under this post - and spread the word. We are hoping for a looooong St Lucia blog procession :))) I am already getting excited and planning what to feature on that day! Thanks Heather for hosting this blog party. x x

* * *

Nula from Noolibird.com has liked my cards featuring her stamps and featured the photos of my cards on her website blog. I wrote a short testimonial for her :) Big fan of Noolibird designs.
Pleasure to be featured on her commercial website.
Thanks Nula!

Check out her website - the stamps designs are fabulous! You will fall in love with them.

* * *

Just wanted to invite you to my Pinterest world. My all Pinterest boards are HERE.

However, if you are a Scandi-chic lover, here is my Scandinavia board, full of inspirational photos, tutorials and links, with over 700 pins.
Do join in! :)

* * *

I run a "I <3 Nordic" group on facebook. It's full of photos, cross stitch charts, knitting patterns, links and crafty ideas. We build the group together and everybody is welcome with their contributions. It generally revolves around Scandinavia but the topic is wide so we also post about vikings, Scandi design, Scandinavian celebs etc. The group is closed so if you want to join just send in a request and I'll approve you. We speak Polish in the group but don't be put off by the foreign language, most of us can speak/write in English so you will be welcome.

My last weekend was fab. For the 1st time I had been participating in the Christmas Shop sales in Pen-y-Lan (see the earlier post). The whole selling-buying machinery started on Friday with the opening, mulled wine and carolers but it was last Saturday morning when I and my other better half turned up in person there. On a chilly Saturday morning we were greeted by a line of cars trailing a long way away from the place where the shop was set up. ("Look! Everybody's queuing to buy your stuff!" - my bf loves to tease me :D I did hope so!)

The big marquee was set up additionally to a small room in a building where the crafts were displayed.

Inside there was a big array of hand-made artefacts of all sorts from over 30 local crafters in North Wales. 18 of my own items went on sale there. A few sold. Good :)

There were also the tables tops and chairs to sit and have a sip of tea or coffee and munch the mincemeat pies.

I loved all the decorations - perfect for Christmas gifts and the displays were good too. The idea was: the items for sale were all mixed together so I was finding my stuff being displayed in all corners but this makes the whole thing a lot more interesting. You never know what you may find on shelves round the corner.

I loved that tree with ceramic decorations. The two white ceramic birds came home with me :)

I just loved this folksy jug. Sadly, this one wasn't for sale.

Found my painted glass among the other items too! :)

... and spotted some of my seasonal pictures and votives ...inside the display room

There were lots of chunky wooden ornaments - reindeer, star, Christmas trees, birds, angels and votives. The stock from that crafter must have been massive as it outnumbered all the others.

The display room had some hanging decorations with Christmas lights and some metal / glass clanging items...

In the middle - the table with more stuff displayed and walked around by customers...

I absolutely adored those machine-sewn purses and pouches with the woodlife. Soft, cosy and tweedy foxes, squirrels and owls... just right for this time of year :)

This cute purse with the cat in red hat has been mine now! Just couldn't leave without one!

The boss being busy at the till :) Nice when the money flows and customers leave happy.

The event proved to be a success and received a lot of public attention. Apparently it has been the 3rd one and the biggest one so far. Let's hope Lisa, the boss, will keep it up in the future. Would love to see more of these.